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By Robert McCabe The Virginian-Pilot May 23, 2012 A unit of global shipping giant Maersk has submitted an unsolicitedproposal to the state to run the Virginia Port Authority"sterminals, state officials announced today. APM Terminals Inc. estimated the net current value of its proposalat between $3.2 billion and $3.9 billion. The agreement would last48 years. As part of the deal, the unit of Denmark-based A.P. Moller-MaerskGroup would pay the state a fixed monthly concession payment andvariable monthly payments based on operating revenues, according toa statement released by Virginia Transportation Secretary SeanConnaughton. APM also would fund capital improvements at the terminals and, as aprivate operator, pay state and local taxes. The proposal alsocalls for the transfer of the ownership of APM"sstate-of-the-art facility in Portsmouth to the state. Among the Port Authority"s state-owned cargo complexes areNorfolk International Terminals, Portsmouth Marine Terminal andNewport News Marine Terminal. The APM proposal was submitted under the state"sPublic-Private Transportation Act of 1995. State officials todayissued a request for alternative proposals from other privateentities, which have a deadline of July 12. The state isn"t required to accept an offer. In 2009, itreceived proposals from three other private entities to take overthe port facilities. It passed on those offers. The board of the Port Authority was briefed on APM"s proposalin a closed session at a meeting on Tuesday. More information aboutthe proposal is expected to be announced later today. The proposal comes at a time when the Port Authority"soperations are under greater scrutiny. Other East Coast ports haveseen faster growth in containerized cargo as the economy hasrebounded from the recession. Last summer, Gov. Bob McDonnellreplaced nearly every member of the Port Authority"s Board ofCommissioners. The offer from APM also amounts to a major turnabout from thatglobal operator of port facilities. Less than two years ago, itsigned a 20-year agreement valued at about $1.3 billion to leaseits APM Terminals Virginia complex in Portsmouth to the state. Theroughly $500 million container-handling facility opened in 2007 asthe largest privately owned terminal in North America. Under the APM lease, the Port Authority"s rent payments areto grow incrementally to more than $70 million a year by the end ofthe agreement. The lease deal with APM was signed about a year after the statereceived three public-private partnership offers from CenterPoint,a Chicago-area industrial real-estate firm; a partnership ofSeattle-based Carrix Inc. and Goldman Sachs; and The Carlyle Group,a Washington-based private-equity firm. Rolled out with some fanfare, against the backdrop of aglobal-shipping market that had tanked during the recession, thethree proposals came with up-front cash offers ranging from $250million to $700 million. Little was heard about them after talkswith APM on the lease of its Portsmouth terminal came to light. Theplug was pulled on the proposals a couple of months after the APMlease took effect. APM Terminals has 24,000 employees in 64 countries, according toits website. The unit"s headquarters for the Americas is inPortsmouth. Among other A.P. Moller-Maersk Group units is the Norfolk-basedMaersk Line Ltd., which owns and operates a fleet of U.S.-flagcargo vessels. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Turbo Shaft and Wheels Manufacturer , Turbo Heat shield Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Repair kits.
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